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[originalwitch]

Esther leaves the Hale house and makes her way directly to Rebekah's front door. It isn't a place she visits often, or at all, considering she had never been invited over, but she does know where it is. She made a point of learning where all her children lived in their time here, if for no other reason than she knows which areas of the city where she was not welcome.

She's crossing those lines tonight. She doesn't have much of a choice.

She goes to Rebekah's first - she's closer - and if he isn't there she will find Elijah after that. If she's lucky, and she can't guarantee she is, they're both together and she can tell them at the same time. She tries not to run, as she does not want to attract attention to herself. Panic will only get more people hurt at this point. But once she reaches her daughter's front door, the pounding of the flat of her hand against the door is just as urgent.

"Rebekah!" She pauses for a moment. "Rebekah, I need to speak with you."

Comments

[easily]

"We can. We don't have to leave you."

For all of Rebekah's snark, for her distrust for Esther, it's still her mother. The woman she mourned for centuries. The one she lost far too soon. To watch her die, to lose her again, she's not sure it's something she can handle.

[originalwitch]

It's not just for them, really. It's for everyone in this city, for the chance that maybe this won't be a complete loss. One hand comes up, shaky to rest against his cheek for a moment, a small gesture of love that she hasn't given in a long time.

"You need to." This has been a long time coming. From the first time Niklaus killed her, to the time she attempted to return the favor, the children who had held on to her the most needed to let her go. "Go to Matt, Rebekah. You don't have much time."

She won't take the blood. She's not meant to survive, and she's already had her borrowed time. "I did what I did so you would survive." Both a thousand years ago and now. It just took her some time to remember that. It's not long after that that her breathing stills and Esther is gone.

And it's not long after that that the city rocks violently beneath their feet, a bright white light coming at them from somewhere in the center of town.

[manof_myword]

Elijah stares blankly at their mother's body as he feels the life leave her body. He can't move for a few moments, but to not do so is to focus on his own grief, his own feelings...and that's not what he's good at, not when someone else is hurting.

Carefully letting Esther go, he moves to Rebekah, pulling her close, but knowing that she might want to run, to get to Matt.

"She's gone..."

What feels like an earthquake makes him glad he's already on the ground--even with their abilities, he's pretty sure he'd have fallen if standing. When he sees the light coming, his arms tighten around her, not willing to let go now. If this is the end, it should be together.

[easily]

Rebekah hugs her brother tightly in return, allowing her eyes to shut as she did so, trying to blink back the tears spilling down her cheeks. There are people she should go to, she should warn but she is too emotionally compromised at the moment to move.

The ground shakes -- there's a flash of light and she knows there wouldn't have been time now.

If this is the end -- well then it should be like this. Together as one.

Always and forever.